This list is, at it's heart, a Goodstuff-Control deck with a bunch of combos thrown in because I'm still a Johnny. It is quite capable of winning a 4-way nuke fight. Unlike some Goodstuff lists, this one only finds Bribery and other stealy effects to be a minor annoyance. The default answer to any problematic permanent is to blow up the board and start over. There are only 7.5 pieces of spot removal in the deck (Strip/Waste, Red Epic, 2 'Walkers, 2 Artifacts, and an Emblem). This list was not intended to be super-competitive, but it turned out quite powerful.
My goal with this post it three-fold. One, I want to put this deck in the public eye for comments (hopefully a little praise) and constructive criticism. Two, I'm doing this as a way to force myself to re-examine the deck for holes, better options, etc (It's been quite a while since the initial design and construction). Three, it's a good way to pass the time, since I am largely waiting for problems to occur at work (I'm a junior IT guy in a small office).
You dislike throwing money at decks (this list is about $2000 before pimping)
You have a budget
You like consistently short games
You don't like grinding out advantage
You like a one-trick pony
You like lots of creature spells (this can do lots of creatures, they'll just be token copies of other stuff)
You don't like having answers
You don't like nuke fights
You don't like fighting on multiple fronts
History/Inspiration of the deck:
Having already explored the power of Enduring Ideal, I wondered what a deck that ran all of the Epic spells might look like, and how it might play. So I set about designing a new 5C list. Early on, EI proved to consume far too many slots to justify, so I left it out figuring I already had one deck based around it and that was enough. I decided to go all in on this list, no sacrifices for budgets (hence the duals, fetches, and shocks unlike my previous 5C list). Some cuts were made in the interest of longer games and fun factor, but it's still absurdly powerful. I keep some of the alternative options around for archenemy style games.
The mana base started off simple, but pretty extravagant. All 10 duals, 10 fetches, 10 shocks, and utility lands. The list grew a little too large and I wanted a few basics to avoid wasteland, so I eventually settled on just the green shocks and that provided the room I needed. Back to Table of Contents
I hear some people like to read about the mind behind the deck. I suppose that's fair. Welcome to my world. I got into Magic back in '97, quit around 2000, and picked it up again in early 2007. Currently, I'm a bored IT guy in training with little else to do, so I thought I'd unleash one of my creations on the world and see what kind of response I got. I have a mind drawn to combos and am not afraid of 5 and 6 card combos in EDH. I'm mostly "Spike" by this point, but I still have a strong dose of "Johnny" in me. At my old game store (I had to change stores cuz of the new job) I was frequently asked for advice and opinions on cards, then accused of being rude (not by the ones asking for advice) when I inform them that the card is generally no good.
I haven't been able to nerf an EDH (build or modify) yet despite several attempts (this was not one of them), guess I'm just too competitive. I like to plan for contingencies. Most of my decks have at least 1 or 2 answers to any giving problem... except one. In that way I build a small weakness into each EDH (Like Hephaestus of Greek mythology). I dislike loaning out my EDH decks because they are mostly combo machines, so very few people are able to learn to play them effectively on such short notice. Also, I have a healthy respect (fear?) of their capabilities. Even my least combo-oriented deck requires a good deal of skill to pilot.
At any given time I'm usually carrying 6-7 EDH decks around these days. I hate French list EDH because of the more ridiculous bannings and rules (no tucking rule in particular). Any player worth their salt should have a plan to deal with the loss of a key card. If you can't do that, go play in the sand box with the other kids, the competitive arena is for intelligent players.
In my experience, the deck plays like a freight train. Once it gets going, it's pretty hard to stop. It also recovers from sweepers quite well (very handy since it's so wrath-happy).
Early drafts included 3 of the Ultimatums (Cruel, Violent, Brilliant) and various other absurd bombs.
Knowing that any deck worth it's salt needs removal of some sort, I eventually decided to favor mass removal. I didn't know before hand what threats I'd need to remove, so I tried to cover all the bases. I boiled the list down to what I considered to be 7 of the best general purpose sweepers (at the time), plus 2 anti-general, and my pack foil Damnation (Pre-AVR list ran *** too, but that was dropped for Terminus). I also figured ramping was a good idea so I researched ramp options and came up with the usual suspects: Mana-facts. I kept them to a minimum on account of the indiscriminate mass removal. Then I came up with some of the better ramp spells which could fetch duals/shocks.
Back to Table of Contents Card Choices:
The ones I'm using are in bold. There were a lot of painful choices and cuts to be made. I was going for a deck that would abuse the Kamigawa Epic spells, but not rely on them. After that, I just knew it had to be big.
* = card has already been listed in previous sections.
Bombs: Instant/Sorcery
Big swingy spells. I prefer a repeatable effect, but sometimes they come with too many stings attached.
Exsanguinate - Extremely powerful panic button given how this deck ramps. Quite easily a solid finisher... Maybe too easy. Avoided in the interest of longer games. Occasionally added for arch-enemy games. Auto-include for super competitive lists.
Debt to the Deathless - An even more powerful finisher than above... Damnit, why does WotC keep trying to tempt me!? Not out during the initial design. Avoided in the interest of longer games. Occasionally added for arch-enemy games. Auto-include for super competitive lists.
Bribery - It's been done to death. I wanted to be a little more original. Still a good card though.
Time Warp - Another good of card done to death. Not the funnest to play against, especially when recurred and more so when repeatedly recurred (duh).
Time Stretch - Less common than above, but also less fun to play against. Reiterate theirs a few times if they do this to teach them a lesson.
Kamigawa Epic Spells
These had always been the starting point for the deck. The cycle was inspired by the question "If you could only cast one spell for the rest of the game, what would it be?". I was inspired to cheat that restriction. Resolving multiple spells with Epic gets interesting since each leaves you with a separate Epic trigger on each of your upkeeps. In this deck, they were never intended to be cast without some kind of support.
Enduring Ideal - Repeatedly tutoring enchantments into play is powerful. I've already done this and it requires at least 4 other cards that don't really benefit the rest of the deck or work well alone. Requires too much space, cut.
Eternal Dominion - Repeated super-Bribery, sweet. Conventional wisdom would point to this one as the most powerful remaining, but in practice it's yet to live up to that assessment.
Neverending Torment - Mass repeated Deck Rape. Arguably the second weakest and most strategic of the Epic spells. Best against combo decks, but being able to systematically disassemble our opponent's deck is strong. Recommend Reliquary Tower and strongly suggest Tower of Fortunes when casting this.
Undying Flames - Repeated burn (1-9 damage in this deck). My personal favorite of the 3 used in my list. I once calculated the total CMC of the deck. Try not to use this without getting 6+ copies each turn. It's dangerous, and best used when you have a sweeper ready to pop (Deed, O-Stone, Disk). More precise when SDT is available.
Endless Swarm - Initially included on principle, this one proved to be too mediocre and disappointing. Eventually it got the axe.
Ultimatums
The most ridiculously difficult to cast of 7-mana sorceries. These are arguably more absurd than some of our other bombs. But alas, they are only one-shot effects. They unfortunately did not make my list (sad too, because I have most of them in foil). They made a strong case for including Fist of Suns.
Brilliant Ultimatum - Fact or Fiction on steroids! You don't just get the pile, you get to cast it for free! Imagine flipping over other ultimatums with this bad boy. How would you split that?
Cruel Ultimatum - So good it saw standard play. I have to say, it was really tempting to try to include this. Pity it requires me to have a guy in the yard to play it.
Titanic Ultimatum - This deck is not the home for this. With only 9 creatures, it would seriously under-perform.
Clarion Ultimatum - The runt of the litter. Has this one ever been good? I can't think of a time when it was. Not even a consideration. Only listed to complete the cycle.
Maelstrom Archangel - Does this really need explanation? Free spells, large flying body. 'Nuff said.
Maelstrom Wanderer - Admittedly, I really like this guy. Double Cascade and haste all around. Now that has possibilities that I like. But with the amount of ramp and lesser spells in this deck it could under-perform. It might end up backfiring on us, turning over something awkward to cast at that moment (like a wrath), though the casting is optional.
Phage the Untouchable - Honestly, I didn't consider her until writing this post. The original win-touch creature. I think she might have a crush on Venser. Under consideration
Ethersworn Adjudicator - Hmm, decent flying body, Mortifies at will, untaps to do it again? Wow, this guy is kinda mean. Sigh, so little room. Under consideration
Godsire - A battlecruiser if I ever saw one. Demands to be dealt with quickly of face a swarm of fatties. Didn't really consider it until this writing. Certainly could make the list if we can find the room.
Magister Sphinx - Heh heh heh. Nice EtB effect. So little room.
Hellkite Overlord - It firebreaths, it regenerates, it flies, it's huge, it's in their face the turn it hits the board.
Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon - I didn't want to go poison. This guy doesn't really do anything else. He's very good at it though. Next guy should make the list before this though.
Blightsteel Colossus - The One-Shot Robot. Again, poison was not the direction I was going. Very silly with Venser.
Seedborn Muse - Oh, I would love to include this guy but it seems so unnecessary.
Bringers
I almost never pay full price on these guys, which is what makes them scary. It's theoretically possible to land one on turn 3 (Sol Ring + Hunting Wilds / Skyshroud Claim). While they do have a respectable body, where they really shine is their upkeep triggers.
Bringer of the White Dawn - Repeating passive Argivian Restoration every upkeep on a respectable body. Mainly intended to recur Mindslaver, but it's very scary to get Drop-Hack back every upkeep. Loves to follow up sweepers, and doesn't mind a little mill.
Bringer of the Blue Dawn - Repeating passive Divination every upkeep on a respectable body. Yes please. In my experience, it won't paint you as a target the way Sphinx will which is nice. I've managed to make it nearly as stupid as Sphinx between copy effects and extra triggers before.
Back to Table of Contents Planeswalkers
I picked 3 of the most epic 'walkers of the time when I designed the deck. Plus Garruk for mana. Of course new ones have come up, and I'm going to start looking into them at a later date.
Karn Liberated - This bad-ass can wreck house no matter where the party is. Permanents? Gone. Hands? Raped. Almost never ults, cuz I don't use his +4 as much as I should. Interestingly, I think this is the only effect in Magic that can let you cast spells again after resolving an Epic spell (or remove emblems).
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker - The bigger badder 'walker, Solves target problem. Period. Steals guys or nukes anything else. Rarely ults but when he does, it leaves a mark.
Venser, the Sojourner - E-Wit, and anything of ours that got stolen love this guy's +2. Also can reset the clone targets for Steel and Metamorph. There aren't normally enough creatures to abuse his -1, but sometimes one or two is all you need. His Ult is scary.
Jace 2.0 - So badass he's one of only 2 cards to be banned from standard in recent memory. He's more subtle than impactful, generating card advantage. Unfortunately he lacks the kind of punch I was looking for in multiplayer. Besides which, I rarely run him in EDH at all. It's a personal preference.
Garruk, Primal Hunter - Mostly just makes dudes. Decent size guys, and the card draw is kinda nice, but is it really worth the slot? I didn't think so, maybe you feel different.
Sorrin Markov - Ok, I like this guy, but space requirements dictated that he be cut. We already clear out problematic utility/mana dorks with our wrathing, we already have an easier way to deal with big life totals, and he's no Mindslaver lock. Considering all that, he seemed redundant.
Sorrin, Lord of Innistrad - Making lifelinking chump blockers is mostly just cute and the emblems are largely irrelevant. The ultimate is kinda cool, but I didn't feel that it was very necessary.
Ajani Vengeant - Mad Cat. Meh, only the Ult seems epic enough for inclusion. I couldn't justify it for a multiplayer deck. turns into a game of Russian Roulette with a morph on the other side.
Tezzeret the Seeker - Not enough mana-facts to make him shine. The tutoring is kinda nice but it's pretty slow. I wasn't looking for a big-swing win with the artifacts.
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas - +1 is liable to miss half the time and the -1 just makes something an easier target. His -4 might be useful, but still not what I was looking for. If I wanted to drain my opponents, I'd use Exsanguinate or similar.
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage - Another Ult worth considering. Unfortunately her other abilities don't really shine here.
Jace, Architect of Thought - This guy wasn't even spoiled when I designed the deck. The +1 is mediocre, the -2 is fine, a mini-FoF. His Ult seems like good times. Super-Bribery everyone at the table, including us? This deserves some thought. Buildup is a bit slow. Like Jace 2.0, this card seems more subtle than impactful. Under skeptical consideration
Vraska the Unseen - Another addition to the card pool since initial design. I'm concerned about the +1 being so weak, but the other two abilities certainly fit the bill. Killing stuff is always good, and making 3 guys with "Win-touch" certainly seems epic enough for the deck. My major concern is the buildup being very slow. Under consideration
Ral Zarek - Not feelin it with this one. The ult, as usual, is kinda cool, but Lightning Bolt and Twiddle are not the removal this deck is looking for, even if they do repeat... Slowly.
Back to Table of Contents Artifacts
These are some of my most Johnny-tastic picks. They were screaming to be abused, and I had to use them.
Door to Nothingness - Drop-Hack our opponent IRL? Where do we sign?! I knew this was going to make the list quite early on.
Legacy Weapon - Proved invaluable in Karona. It may be hard to use, but it's pretty good at controlling boards.
Mindslaver - BM or no, this thing is beast. I once slavered a guy (with his own Slaver off Acquire) for one turn and completely ruined every advantage he had over me. He went from absurdly overwhelming board state to behind in nothing flat. Never underestimate this, though it takes a very specific set of circumstances to do those kinds of things.
Soul Conduit - I'd rather they don't see it coming. Ok, in this deck, we CAN do that anyway. Still I think it's more cute than useful. Not horrible, but not my style either. I'm trying to ignore politics for the most part with this deck.
Darksteel Forge - Not really a consideration with the limited tutoring. Requires another slot to truly shine and I didn't want to lock everyone else out of the game like with Karona. I'd rather be left alone because I'm scary, not because they have nothing.
Mycosynth Lattice - We have more than enough mana fixing without this and Darksteel Forge is the main reason to run this anyway, not the goal of this deck.
Back to Table of Contents Support Spells
These were included to amp up various aspects of the deck. Some of them can be pretty epic in combination with a few other cards, but those are combos, the epic section was reserved for individual bombs.
Flash Enablers:
These two gems allow me to resolve more than one of the epic spells at a time. Being able to flash anything I want EOT or in response to a spell is quite handy and a little scary.
Shimmer Myr - Not good enough to include. Limited to artifacts only and as a creature, it's too easy to kill.
Copy cats:
These effects copy one thing on another to some benefit.
Prototype Portal - Making tokens of any artifact we like? Interesting, let's see what mischief and mayhem we can cause with this little goody.
Soul Foundry - Like above for creatures. Cool, but this deck only runs 9 of those, so less useful here.
Phyrexian Metamorph - General purpose copying? You have a better bomb than us? Don't think so. Now we both have one. Funny to imprint on Prototype Portal, now we have two.
Riku of Two Reflections - Copy effect for any instant, sorcery, or creature of ours? Cool. Fragile, yes, but well worth the effort. Deceptively dangerous.
Reiterate - Copy any instant/sorcery for 4RR without spending the card? This thing is a bit of a multi-tool. It can copy our Epic spells, counter opposing counterspells, or copy their spells for personal use.
Radiate - Mostly here for Undying Flames. Radiate that sucker and you'll probably be killing at least one player every time you untap. Works with other things too. Turn spot removal into mass removal, effectively counters a Time Warp. Just don't use it on a Vindicate (awkward).
Paradox Haze - Get an extra upkeep? Odd card, why would anyone want more of those? Epic triggers at the beginning of each of our upkeeps... Heck, Bringers also benefit from this. Can also use it semi-offensively against certain stax pieces. Here opponent, have a second upkeep to lose stuff to that Smokestack.
Illusionist's Bracers - Only really 1 activated ability on a creature. Just as easy to copy that with Rings, plus the card is being considered for cuts. Maybe for a heavier creature build. Pass.
Back to Table of Contents Ramp/Mana Fixing
Let's face it, this is a requirement for Goodstuff lists. If we can't get our bombs out quickly, we'll die before getting anywhere significant. Here are my picks for this deck and some other options. I wanted to use a low mana-fact count because of the wrath-happy element to the deck.
Primeval Titan - Made the original list as a snap pick. Loved him, fetching any lands I needed (Tower/Stronghold quite frequently). Then they banned him. May he rest in peace
Sol Ring - Usual Suspect, shouldn't be anything new to you.
Basalt Monolith - One of my favorites, but few other people (at least where I play) seem to know about it. Combos with Rings or Mana Reflection for unlimited mana.
Darksteel Ingot - I went with this because it doesn't die to our sweepers. Good fixing too.
Gilded Lotus - I couldn't imagine not running this one, accelerates from 5 mana to 8.
Knight of the Reliquary - Mostly a replacement for Primeval Titan (may he rest in peace). Still on the fence about this one. Possible cut.
Oracle of Mul Daya - Some claim he gives away TMI, I like the extra land drop and playing lands off my deck. In this deck, our opponents will probably be more scared knowing what we're drawing.
Farseek - How can we not run this, fetch any dual or shock needed? Check.
Nature's Lore - Like above, but for forests (there are 9 in the list) and untapped, which can be handy.
Mwonvuli Acid-Moss - Some times you wanna slow another guy down, this will do that while ramping. It also handles a lot of annoying lands we might find.
Mirari's Wake - A close second to above, also has a built-in anthem. Sweet.
Fist of Suns - Oh baby does this thing look sweet. This was on my first revision draft list, but eventually saw the axe. It would have be quite ridiculous to drop Karn or Bolas for 5 mana, more so for something like Myojin of Seeing Winds or Eternal Dominion. I think I cut it around the same time as the Ultimatums. Sigh.
Untamed Wilds - Largely irrelevant, only grabs basics, which is not what we need most of the time.
Prismatic Omen / Joiner Adept / Chromatic Lantern - These are largely unnecessary if your mana base is properly designed. Between 10 fetches, 10 duals, 4 shocks, and the various land ramp spells, I've rarely had a problem. If Blood Moon and similar effects are frequent in your meta, these may be worth considering.
Pernicious Deed - Very handy to be able to pick a CMC to stop at. Less good that you have to dump mana into it to use it. Still well worth it.
All Is Dust - Leave our artifacts in tact? Take indestructible problems out too? Sweet.
Planar Cleansing - Leave nothing left but the landscape. Not even the cockroaches. How's that for thorough?
Oblivion Stone - Can selectively save our stuff? Hits non-lands? Gimme gimme gimme!
Damnation - Oh come on, if you had a pack foil copy of this you'd wanna show it off too. Ok, admittedly, this is probably the weakest wrath in the list. May be cut for Gaze of Granite. Under review
Scourglass - The timing restriction sucks. If it could be used outside of upkeep, it'd be an auto-include, pity. Still might be worth running, though probably better for a budget version.
Catastrophe - I was intentionally avoiding Mass LD. We don't want someone else casting our own wrath as a 'Geddon. Plus it can only hit creatures, *** is better
Gaze of Granite - Very nice additional sweeper, another anti-'walker tool. Under consideration
Crime // Punishment - Additional sweeper, doesn't hit 'walkers, and can steal things too. Concerned about it only hitting CMC equal to X (not x and below). I think this is not broad enough. Maybe you feel different. Worth considering, but requires testing. Under skeptical consideration
Decree of Pain - Not broad enough, I was looking mostly for sweepers that hit more than just creatures. The card draw is nice though.
My picks for a limited Spot Removal suite. They have served well.
Strip Mine - Standard EDH gear. Strategically color screw an opponent, destroy an annoying land.
Wasteland - Standard EDH gear. Strategically color screw an opponent, destroy an annoying land.
Door to Nothingness * - Drop-Hack our opponent IRL? Where do we sign?! I knew this was going to make my list quite early on. Ok, it's not really removal, but I use it that way sometimes.
Legacy Weapon * - Proved invaluable in Karona. It may be hard to use, but it's pretty good at controlling boards, and still highly abusable.
Karn Liberated * - This bad-ass can wreck house no matter where the party is. Permanents? Gone. Hands? Raped. Almost never ults, cuz I don't use his +4 as much as I should. Interestingly, I think this is the only effect in Magic that can let you cast spells again after resolving an Epic spell (or remove emblems).
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker * - The bigger badder 'walker, Solves target problem. Period. Steals guys or nukes anything else. Rarely ults but when he does, it leaves a mark (Remove target player's will to continue from the game).
Venser, the Sojourner's Emblem - This ult is scary. Every time you cast a spell, something goes away. Harmless spells come with an attached Legacy Weapon blast. Multiple copies of Emblems DO stack, oops.
Kor Haven - Not true removal, but since it doesn't remove the creature from combat, you can still gang block it safely. Combat trick that loves Rings. Screw you Voltron and Shotgun Generals!
Maze of Ith - Again, not true removal, but a fine combat trick that loves Rings. Screw you Voltron and Shotgun Generals!
Spine of Ish Sah - I'm pretty sure this wasn't out when I designed the deck. I'm fairly happy with the spot removal package as it is, plus this requires support to shine, space is tight.
Oblivion Ring - CA was to be a focus for this deck. As such spot removal was going to be of lower importance. I wanted repeating removal where possible.
Detention Sphere - CA was to be a focus for this deck. As such spot removal was going to be of lower importance. I wanted repeating removal where possible.
Vindicate - CA was to be a focus for this deck. As such spot removal was going to be of lower importance. I wanted repeating removal where possible.
Maelstrom Pulse - CA was to be a focus for this deck. As such spot removal was going to be of lower importance. I wanted repeating removal where possible.
Back to Table of Contents Tutors and Draw
Tutoring is a key to consistency, which leads to victory. Finding the answer you need when you need it is useful to say the least. That said, I wasn't going for consistency so much as back-breaking plays with this deck. This tutor package is far smaller than I'm used to running.
Usually 1 card a turn is far too slow for late game (even more so in FFA), and since this deck was designed with late-game in mind, draw effects seemed important.
Demonic Tutor - Can't beat this one. Few tutors are as efficient.
Diabolic Tutor - Not nearly as efficient as above, but it gets the job done, for a price. Budget approved too.
Beseech the Queen - Gets almost anything, provided our land count is high enough. Rarely a problem since we use primarily green land ramp here.
Planar Portal - Ok, I'll admit it, this one's a pet card of mine. But when I'm rockin the Fusion Generator combo, Mana Reflection, or Mirari's Wake, this thing is a bargain. Goes infinite with Fusion Powered Grid (see Combo Corner) too.
Tolaria West - Barely qualifies as a tutor, but it serves as a land in a pinch and I have a few utility lands that are important to the deck, so it made the list. Typically finds Phyrexian Tower or Volrath's Stronghold, but also known to grab any of the other utility lands. Rarely used as a color fixer.
Vampiric Tutor - Arguably better than Diabolic, or Beseech, but I felt that it was more important to get the card in hand, than be mana-efficient. Good for setting up Miracles (cough cough Terminus).
Increasing Ambition - Wasn't out for initial design, but deserves a look, since it gets you a card for 5 mana, then 2 more for 8.
Diabolic Revelation - Why didn't they just print this to read "Assemble target combo"? This thing seems like to Costco of tutors, it's one heck of a deal, but only if you buy in bulk. It's pretty good, but a bit too mana intensive for a one-shot sorcery tutor.
Ring of Three Wishes - Arguably better than Planar Portal, but I'm not entirely sold on this as a replacement. Sometimes you need to get more than 3 things (usually when someone disrupts a combo and you have to change plans) or when you're being forced to play defensively for an extended period.
Grim Tutor - Amazing, but I don't have one. Would replace Beseech if I did. Hard to justify this purchase right now with my student loan looming, maybe next year. My policy on proxies is I have to have at least 1 unless I'm testing. Flagged for later consideration
Cruel Tutor - Avoiding the top-deck tutors. This was used in a tourney for a couple rounds, so I had to own all that cards, and this one, I don't.
Imperial Seal - I can't justify a purchase this huge, plus my policy on proxies is that I have to have at least one unless I'm testing.
Mystical, Worldly, Enlightened Tutors, any other non-black tutor - I was mainly looking for the vague tutors (gets anything) and avoiding top-deck varieties. After all, this is a 5C deck, why settle for restrictions if you don't have to?
Mind's Eye - Sympathetic draws? sounds good to me. Scales with the number of opponents you're entertaining, but always at a price.
Sensei's Divining Top - Not a draw spell in the strictest sense, but it's more than worth it. Only really starts to draw you extra cards when combined with Rings or Key. It's an EDH staple with a proven track record. Just try to save everyone some time by not waiting until just before your untap to check with it. Have some good manners.
Tower of Fortunes - I like this card, it's budget friendly, not commonly used, draws boat-loads of cards, and usable at instant speed. Also untaps off of Key, which is huge in many of my decks.
Bringer of the Blue Dawn * - Repeating passive Divination every upkeep on a respectable body. Yes please. Ok, so it doesn't scale with your opponent count, but it's really good. In my experience, it won't paint you as a target the way Sphinx will which is nice.
Arcanis the Omnipotent - Not something I had initially considered. I like this guy, but what to cut for him? Tower of Fortunes seems to work better because it's an artifact.
Consecrated Sphinx - Just draws so much hate. The body is respectable, but everyone seems to be trying to steal or kill it. Even so, it's worth trying.
Rhystic Study - This is one of the more annoying options available, since you have to ask every time "did you pay 1 for that?". I've heard it draws hate, be in my experience it only seems to get sour looks. Worth considering, but I'd much rather have Big Dumb Sphinx first.
Honden of Seeing Winds - Doesn't scale like Eye. Not planning to run the other Hondens, so I left this out.
Phyrexian Arena - Like above, doesn't scale well, but its' still good, just not good enough for this list.
Staff of Domination - It was banned during initial design. I'm a little surprised they unbanned it. This thing is a Swiss-Army Knife. Tap that guy, untap that guy, gain life, draw cards. It even untaps itself. Rules Committee, what were you thinking? Under consideration
Myojin of Seeing Winds - That's a little bit too much draw all at once. Plus the body is far too small for 10 mana to be of much use afterwards. It can easily get an absurd 17+ draws, but be prepared to discard more than half of it. Not cheat in friendly either.
Urza's Blueprints - Too slow, doesn't scale well without help. The echo is also a concern. I do like the flavor and tie in with Legacy Weapon though.
Staff of Nin - Too slow, can't scale at all. Wasn't out when I designed the deck. Not worth the other ability either.
Jayemdae Tome - Pfft, I can't believe this used to be a rare. At 4 mana per card, it's barely worth mentioning. Garbage outside of limited.
Howling Mine, Font of Mythos, etc. - Save these for group hug, Opponents almost always get first value out of them.
Temple Bell, Otherworld Atlas, etc - Also better saved for group hug lists, could be used to mill out opponents in combo, but there are better ways to do this.
Regrowth, Recollect, Restock, etc - Good as these are, I was leaning towards repeatable effects here.
All Suns' Dawn - Interesting, I hadn't thought of this one before now. Might be worth a look. 5 cards back for a one-time deal.
Genesis - Not enough creatures and no SotF to abuse this. Pass
Buried Ruin - Originally, this one did make the list, but I eventually replaced it with Reliquary Tower. Never regretted that decision.
Sun Titan - Never really considered this guy that seriously. Cute to recur fetches and can get some goodies back, but it didn't seem broad enough.
Phyrexian Tower - It sacs a guy, and gives BB in exchange, not bad. Love the synergy with Stronghold. Makes it easy to play, pop, and recur HIM at will in one turn.
High Market - Not bad. The life gain is negligible, but no mana to activate. If I'd had more room, this would also be in.
Miren, the Moaning Well - The activation cost on this one had me looking elsewhere, I wanted to be able to play, pop, and recur the Captain in one turn if need be.
Diamond Valley - Kudos if you can find and afford one of these. This one was not high on my list of options. The life gain isn't bad, but no mana ability was a concern.
Boseiju, Who Shelters All - Standard EDH gear for me. Pushes spells through countermagic. I've seen a few blue mages almost face-palm at the sight of this gem. Virtual auto-include.
Reliquary Tower - Nothing special, fairly typified EDH gear. Nice to not worry about your max hand size anymore.
Strip Mine * - Standard EDH gear. Strategically color screw an opponent, destroy an annoying land.
Wasteland * - Standard EDH gear. Strategically color screw an opponent, destroy an annoying land.
Academy Ruins * - Wrath-happy, get back dead artifacts. Slaver Lock, 'nuff said.
Volrath's Stronghold * - Get back Captain Temper-Tantrum, or any other guys we might want outta our bin, seems good.
Phyrexian Tower * - It sacs a guy, and gives BB in exchange, not bad. Love the synergy with Stronghold. Makes it easy to play, pop, and recur him at will in a turn.
Kor Haven * - Not true removal, but since it doesn't remove the creature from combat, you can still gang block it safely. Combat trick that loves Rings.
Maze of Ith * - Again, not true removal, but a fine combat trick that loves Rings.
Tolaria West * - Barely qualifies as a tutor, but it serves as a land in a pinch and we have a few utility lands that are important to the deck, so it made the list. Typically finds Phyrexian Tower or Volrath's Stronghold, but also known to grab any of the other utility lands. Rarely used as a color fixer.
High Market * - Not bad. The life gain is negligible, but no mana to activate. If I'd had more room, this would also be in.
Miren, the Moaning Well * - The activation cost on this one had me looking elsewhere, I wanted to be able to play, pop, and recur the captain in one turn if need be.
Diamond Valley * - Kudos if you can find and afford one of these. This one was not high on my list of options, since mine are tied up in another deck. The life gain isn't bad, but no mana ability was also a concern.
Buried Ruin * - Originally, this one did make the list, but I eventually replaced it with Reliquary Tower. Never regretted that decision.
Cavern of Souls - Not out when I built the deck, but it bears mentioning. An uncounterable general is kinda tasty in EDH, but I don't know if it's worth it since I don't have any other Avatars nor even 4 creatures from the same tribe (3 bringers, 3 humans, 1 angel, 1 knight, 1 elf, 2 shaman, 1 shapeshifter, 1 wizard, and 1 avatar). It's liable to color screw me, notoriously bad for non-creature spells. Under consideration
Hall of the Bandit Lord - Haste is not really big deal in this deck, definitely not worth the potential color screw.
Buried Ruin * - Originally, this one did make the list, but I eventually replaced it with Reliquary Tower. Never regretted that decision.
Due to my Johnny roots, I am a huge lover of combos and wield them to devastating effect. Not all of them are insta-wins, but they are powerful. Here are the modular combos that I can point out ATM for this deck.
Fission Generator: Unlimited colorless mana. Basalt Momnolith + Mana Reflection
Less flexible than Fusion Generator, but still quite powerful. It's a lot easier to start up, but doesn't enable the same shinnanigans.
Fusion Powered Grid: Unlimited colorless mana + unlimted artifact untaps. Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + Voltaic Key
Combines Fusion Generator and Power Grid combos. This plus any artifact with a useful non-sacing tap-ability is usually God Mode. Can also be used as a political tool (untapping artifacts that aren't yours, for a price), if you don't want to be the tyrant. Sometimes I like to be the tyrant. Just make sure to have or at least bluff having a backup plan if they try to turn it against you.
Fusion Generator 2.0: Unlimited colored mana
Fusion Powered Grid + Darksteel Ingot / Gilded Lotus
Can be used politically with a minor tweak. Using Spectral Searchlight allows you to give away colored mana (this would be funnier if mana burn was still a thing "Pick a color, now burn for it!").
Draw Deck: self explanatory
Fusion Generator + SDT
Fusion Powered Grid + Tower of Fortunes
Usually ends in the rest of the table getting hit with Door to Nothingness, since that is the only insta-win combo in the deck. Doesn't have to be that way though if you consider leaving a turn's worth of cards left in the library. You can make an army and swing for the win.
Unlimited Tutors: Demonic Tutor anything you want at will.
Fusion Powered Grid + Planar Portal
Assemble target combo, board state, etc. God Mode.
Precision Doomsday Weapon: Destroy target permanent whenever you feel like it. Can be used indiscriminately.
Fusion Powered Grid + Lux Cannon
If you have this, you are most definitely in God Mode. Only a split second spell at instant speed can stop this with impunity.
Epic Damage Cannon: Mass resolutions of Undying Flames. Somebody's gonna get it on our upkeep! Undying Flames + Radiate
Add other copy effects for even more epic-ness. Just point the original at yourself for less self-hurt. Also, multiple copies pointed at creatures tend to fizzle.
4-mana Slaver Lock (1-Player variant): Slaver lock on 4 mana for 1 player Mindslaver + Bringer of the White Dawn
Doesn't cost you your turn's draw.
10-mana Slaver Lock (1-Player Variant): Like above Prototype Portal + Mindslaver
Also doesn't cost you your turn's draw.
Classic Slaver Lock (2-Player variant): Classic Slaver lock with a twist, 2 people. Play solitaire in a 3 way game! Or turn a 4 way FFA into a 3v1 etc.
Classic Slaver Lock + Rings of Brighthearth + 13U
Ultimate Slaver Lock (Any number of players indefinately): Slaver everyone at the table and play solitaire for as long as you feel like it. Very Tyrannical and not particularly recommended since everyone else in the game is essentially no longer playing. Mindslaver + Prototype Portal + Fusion Powered Grid
I could go on, but I don't feel like exhaustively listing every possible permutation. If you have a speck of Johnny, and a functioning neural cluster, you should be able to work out the rest from these examples and your own wits.
Waste/Strip Lock: I almost never use this, it's beyond dirty and usually unnecessary. It rarely works in multi-player and people seem to like countering Crucible if you have either of the lands out. Do not get a reputation for falling back on this. You have been warned. Wasteland / Strip Mine + Crucible of Worlds Oracle of Mul Daya and Rings of Brighthearth can make it work for more players.
Widget Factory: Make token copies of Metamorph / Sculpting Steel to copy cool stuff. Prototype Portal + Phyrexian Metamorph / Sculpting Steel
Add Rings / Key to ramp up production.
This may not seem that amazing to begin with, but think for a moment. You can make an army of... anything you can copy with what you imprinted. Opponent has a bomb creature? We have 2. Nice equipment, We'll reverse engineer it and mass-produce. Sweet mana-fact bro, mind if we borrow your design? Didn't think of that 3x artifact combo you have there, Copy Copy Copy. We can make copies of our own stuff too, like Rings or Key to get stupider even faster.
Most of these can be answered with Drop-Hack Combo if you have it ready, but you can't always have it ready in time. Sometimes you don't get the god draw to have it ready by turn 4.
Non-basic Land Hate - Magus of the Moon, Blood Moon, Back to Basics, etc. These do a number on the deck, since it's quite mana hungry and color intensive. The lack of countermagic is really felt here. Fetch your basics if you suspect these are coming, be ready with Deed, O-Stone, Disk, Karn, Lux Cannon, Legacy Weapon (float mana in response), or a wrath effect.
Contamination - This attacks the color intensive nature of the deck. Fortunately, all of our tutoring is black-compatible, unfortunately, it's limited. If you can't answer it immediately by floating mana for something, I recommend finding AIDs, Deed, O-Stone, Disk, or Karn. Gilded Lotus opens up a lot more answers if you have it out.
Fast Focused Aggro - We got 10 wrath effects, put 'em to use. Probably not an issue in multiplayer though. Also, Maze and Haven do good work here.
Continuous Artifact Hate - Null Rod, Stony Silence, Damping Matrix, etc. This deck does rely pretty heavily on artifacts. Anything that deactivates them kinda sucks. Catch-all answer, blow up the world... Or use a 'walker to deal with it.
Heavy Countermagic - I've never run into this in multiplayer, but it is a thing, so I'll theory craft it. Reiterate can be used to a limited extent as countermagic. Abuse the flash enablers if you have them out. Play big stuff right before untapping to bait some counters, then untap and attempt to play more. Between the uncounterable recursion effects (lands), Boseiju, and draw effects, you should have a shot at pushing something through. Keep in mind that Boseiju can be tutored for with Tolaria West (difficult to counter), and other tutors are rarely countered since they tend to counter what you find instead. Mana Reflection or Garruk can get a second mana out of it if you feel the need to Epic Damage Cannon. Who you kill on your untap is up to you, might be funny to watch the counter-happy jerk squirm. Of course if they start recurring Time Stop at any point, it could majorly suck.
Sad Sac, et al aka Deck Rape - This is not generally a problem. Though it could theoretically become one if taken far enough. To destroy every combo in the deck I believe that the number of cards to remove would number above 10, meaning you're not going to see this early game. In which case, you're probably going to have some combo pieces in hand and threats going on. I'm not worried. If you are, some personal shroud/hexproof effects would be in order, start with Leyline of Sanctity.
Mill - Unlike most of my other EDHs, this one is actually vulnerable to milling. It's got enough recursion to be able to say thanks to someone stupid enough to do this slowly, but the entire deck at once is a possibility. If you expect this, make room for Gaea's Blessing, a personal shroud/hexproof effect, or a LegendaryEldrazi.
Willbender - Be very careful with Door around any face-down creature. It would not be a good feeling to step through your own Door to Nothingness. Should it be the ever obnoxious Willbender, a piece of spot removal pointed at their board (best at the suspect morph creature) is usually enough to provoke them to use it (or just use an appropriate wrath effect like Deed X=0).
This almost happened to me once, but I let him redirect my Legacy Weapon blast pointed at it.
Stranglehold, Aven Mindcensor, Mindlock Orb, etc, aka Anti-search - You wouldn't think that this is a huge problem given the smallish tutor suite, but then you realize that 10 fetches, and most of the ramp do require you to search your deck. These have never come up in my local meta, but that's not to say that it can't happen. All you can do is hope you draw enough lands to get out of it. There's really nothing you can do until you build up to enough mana and find removal for the offending permanent. Remember to fire off any fetches and/or ramp you can in response.
Confidently keeping a 1-land (Reliquary Tower) color-screw hand on a mull to 6 and winning in a 4-way game, while playing for prizes! GP Vancouver 2012 Commander Sit-and-Go Day 2.
Realizing I had 15 copies of Undying Flames on the stack.
Resolving 12 of those copies and having to decide who would die on my next upkeep (3-way game).
Casting Door to Nothingness during an opponent's turn, untapping it with Voltaic Key, activating it, and copying the ability to drop-hack two players in response to one of them casting an annoying spell.
Having 2 Venser Emblems.
Loaning my Karona EDH to a friend and Deck-raping it to death with Neverending Torment right before he was about to combo off.
Epic Fails:
Resolving 4 copies of Eternal Dominion against 2 opponents and realizing that I would probably still lose because they didn't have anything good enough to ride to victory.
"The distance between genius and insanity... Is measured only by success."
-Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies
"If violence isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough!"
-Me
A kid at my local gameshop wanted to break a twenty.
"You got 2 tens?" he asked me.
"No, but I probably got 3 fives." I replied.
"Perfect!"
"You might want to check your math there."
"The distance between genius and insanity... Is measured only by success."
-Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies
"If violence isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough!"
-Me
A kid at my local gameshop wanted to break a twenty.
"You got 2 tens?" he asked me.
"No, but I probably got 3 fives." I replied.
"Perfect!"
"You might want to check your math there."
Very interesting build and a nice writeup. I like that you use a lot of cards that aren't generally seen a lot (the epics, bringers, etc.)
Very cool! Wish I had more to add but I don't really play 5 colors. Nice deck though.
Thanks, I guess I sort of gravitate towards off-the-beaten-path type of decks. I think they make up about half of my currently active EDHs. You might like some of my other ones. I'll probably end up posting all of them over the next several months.
"The distance between genius and insanity... Is measured only by success."
-Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies
"If violence isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough!"
-Me
A kid at my local gameshop wanted to break a twenty.
"You got 2 tens?" he asked me.
"No, but I probably got 3 fives." I replied.
"Perfect!"
"You might want to check your math there."
Woah, cool deck, and also very cool article. That's a lot of work!
TY TY. It took me a while, but I wanted it to be a how-to-build manual in case anyone wanted to put together their own riff on my creation. The Bringers, Epic spells, and support spells are all a matter of flavor. Those elements could easily be stripped out to for a different theme, or just general good stuff.
"The distance between genius and insanity... Is measured only by success."
-Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies
"If violence isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough!"
-Me
A kid at my local gameshop wanted to break a twenty.
"You got 2 tens?" he asked me.
"No, but I probably got 3 fives." I replied.
"Perfect!"
"You might want to check your math there."
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This list is, at it's heart, a Goodstuff-Control deck with a bunch of combos thrown in because I'm still a Johnny. It is quite capable of winning a 4-way nuke fight. Unlike some Goodstuff lists, this one only finds Bribery and other stealy effects to be a minor annoyance. The default answer to any problematic permanent is to blow up the board and start over. There are only 7.5 pieces of spot removal in the deck (Strip/Waste, Red Epic, 2 'Walkers, 2 Artifacts, and an Emblem). This list was not intended to be super-competitive, but it turned out quite powerful.
My goal with this post it three-fold. One, I want to put this deck in the public eye for comments (hopefully a little praise) and constructive criticism. Two, I'm doing this as a way to force myself to re-examine the deck for holes, better options, etc (It's been quite a while since the initial design and construction). Three, it's a good way to pass the time, since I am largely waiting for problems to occur at work (I'm a junior IT guy in a small office).
Reasons to like this deck:
Reasons to dislike this deck:
History/Inspiration of the deck:
Having already explored the power of Enduring Ideal, I wondered what a deck that ran all of the Epic spells might look like, and how it might play. So I set about designing a new 5C list. Early on, EI proved to consume far too many slots to justify, so I left it out figuring I already had one deck based around it and that was enough. I decided to go all in on this list, no sacrifices for budgets (hence the duals, fetches, and shocks unlike my previous 5C list). Some cuts were made in the interest of longer games and fun factor, but it's still absurdly powerful. I keep some of the alternative options around for archenemy style games.
The mana base started off simple, but pretty extravagant. All 10 duals, 10 fetches, 10 shocks, and utility lands. The list grew a little too large and I wanted a few basics to avoid wasteland, so I eventually settled on just the green shocks and that provided the room I needed.
Back to Table of Contents
I hear some people like to read about the mind behind the deck. I suppose that's fair. Welcome to my world. I got into Magic back in '97, quit around 2000, and picked it up again in early 2007. Currently, I'm a bored IT guy in training with little else to do, so I thought I'd unleash one of my creations on the world and see what kind of response I got. I have a mind drawn to combos and am not afraid of 5 and 6 card combos in EDH. I'm mostly "Spike" by this point, but I still have a strong dose of "Johnny" in me. At my old game store (I had to change stores cuz of the new job) I was frequently asked for advice and opinions on cards, then accused of being rude (not by the ones asking for advice) when I inform them that the card is generally no good.
I haven't been able to nerf an EDH (build or modify) yet despite several attempts (this was not one of them), guess I'm just too competitive. I like to plan for contingencies. Most of my decks have at least 1 or 2 answers to any giving problem... except one. In that way I build a small weakness into each EDH (Like Hephaestus of Greek mythology). I dislike loaning out my EDH decks because they are mostly combo machines, so very few people are able to learn to play them effectively on such short notice. Also, I have a healthy respect (fear?) of their capabilities. Even my least combo-oriented deck requires a good deal of skill to pilot.
At any given time I'm usually carrying 6-7 EDH decks around these days. I hate French list EDH because of the more ridiculous bannings and rules (no tucking rule in particular). Any player worth their salt should have a plan to deal with the loss of a key card. If you can't do that, go play in the sand box with the other kids, the competitive arena is for intelligent players.
How to play:
Deck lists:
1 Child of Alara
Creatures (9)
1 Bringer of the Black Dawn
1 Bringer of the Blue Dawn
1 Bringer of the White Dawn
1 Eternal Witness (Chinese)
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Maelstrom Archangel
1 Oracle of Mul Daya (foil)
1 Phyrexian Metamorph (pack foil)
1 Riku of Two Reflections
Planeswalkers (4)
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Karn Liberated
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Venser, the Sojourner
Instants (2)
1 Radiate
1 Reiterate (foil)
Sorceries (18)
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 All Is Dust
1 Austere Command
1 Beseech the Queen (foil)
1 Damnation (pack foil)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor (M10 foil)
1 Eternal Dominion
1 Farseek (M13 foil)
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Hunting Wilds (foil)
1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Nature's Lore
1 Neverending Torment
1 Planar Cleansing (M13 foil)
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Terminus (foil)
1 Undying Flames (foil)
1 Leyline of Anticipation (foil)
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mirari's Wake
1 Paradox Haze (foil)
1 Pernicious Deed (pack foil)
Artifacts (21)
1 Basalt Monolith (Beta)
1 Crucible of Worlds (10th foil)
1 Darksteel Ingot (Darksteel foil)
1 Door to Nothingness (M13 foil)
1 Gilded Lotus (M13 foil)
1 Legacy Weapon (Ap foil)
1 Lux Cannon (foil)
1 Mind's Eye
1 Mindslaver
1 Mirari (Timeshifted foil)
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Oblivion Stone
1 Planar Portal
1 Prototype Portal (foil)
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Sculpting Steel (10th foil)
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring (U)
1 Tower of Fortunes (foil)
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Voltaic Key (US)
Lands (39 + Maze of Ith)
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Arid Mesa (Artist signed)
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Breeding Pool (Gatecrash foil)
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest (Unhinged)
1 Island (Unhinged)
1 Mountain (Unhinged)
1 Plains (Unhinged)
1 Swamp (Unhinged)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Kor Haven
1 Maze of Ith (Dark NM)
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Reliquary Tower (Conflux foil)
1 Strip Mine (Antiquities)
1 Tolaria West
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Wasteland
1 Command Tower
Many of the cards in this deck can serve multiple roles, so it can be difficult to classify them all into a single category, but I've done my best.
1 Child of Alara
Bombs (Epic Spells) (13)
1 Bringer of the Black Dawn (also a tutor)
1 Bringer of the Blue Dawn (also a draw spell)
1 Bringer of the White Dawn
1 Maelstrom Archangel
1 Karn Liberated
1 Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
1 Venser, the Sojourner (mostly for the ult)
1 Eternal Dominion
1 Neverending Torment
1 Undying Flames (foil)
1 Door to Nothingness (M13 foil)
1 Legacy Weapon (Ap foil)
1 Mindslaver
Mana Fixing/Ramp (14)
1 Basalt Monolith (Beta)
1 Darksteel Ingot (DS foil)
1 Gilded Lotus (M13 foil)
1 Sol Ring (U)
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Oracle of Mul Daya (foil)
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Farseek (M13 foil)
1 Hunting Wilds (foil)
1 Mwonvuli Acid-Moss
1 Nature's Lore
1 Skyshroud Claim
1 Mana Reflection
1 Mirari's Wake
Epic Support (12)
1 Phyrexian Metamorph (pack foil)
1 Riku of Two Reflections
1 Radiate
1 Reiterate (foil)
1 Paradox Haze (foil)
1 Mirari (Timeshifted foil)
1 Prototype Portal (foil)
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Sculpting Steel (10th foil)
1 Voltaic Key (US)
1 Vedalken Orrery
1 Leyline of Anticipation (foil)
1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 All Is Dust
1 Austere Command
1 Damnation (pack foil)
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Planar Cleansing (M13 foil)
1 Terminus (foil)
1 Pernicious Deed (pack foil)
1 Nevinyrral's Disk
1 Oblivion Stone
Tutors (5)
1 Beseech the Queen (foil)
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor (M10 foil)
1 Planar Portal
1 Tolaria West
Draw (3)
1 Mind's Eye
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Tower of Fortunes (foil)
Recursion (4)
1 Crucible of Worlds (10th foil)
1 Eternal Witness (Chinese)
1 Academy Ruins
1 Volrath's Stronghold
Sac Outlets (1)
1 Phyrexian Tower
Removal (5)
1 Lux Cannon (foil)
1 Kor Haven
1 Maze of Ith (Dark NM)
1 Strip Mine (Antiquities)
1 Wasteland
Utility Lands not already listed (2)
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Reliquary Tower (Conflux foil)
Non-Utility Lands (30)
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Marsh Flats
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Badlands
1 Bayou
1 Plateau
1 Savannah
1 Scrubland
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Underground Sea
1 Volcanic Island
1 Breeding Pool (Gatecrash foil)
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Stomping Ground
1 Temple Garden
1 Forest (Unhinged)
1 Island (Unhinged)
1 Mountain (Unhinged)
1 Plains (Unhinged)
1 Swamp (Unhinged)
1 Command Tower
In my experience, the deck plays like a freight train. Once it gets going, it's pretty hard to stop. It also recovers from sweepers quite well (very handy since it's so wrath-happy).
Back to Table of Contents
Early drafts included 3 of the Ultimatums (Cruel, Violent, Brilliant) and various other absurd bombs.
Knowing that any deck worth it's salt needs removal of some sort, I eventually decided to favor mass removal. I didn't know before hand what threats I'd need to remove, so I tried to cover all the bases. I boiled the list down to what I considered to be 7 of the best general purpose sweepers (at the time), plus 2 anti-general, and my pack foil Damnation (Pre-AVR list ran *** too, but that was dropped for Terminus). I also figured ramping was a good idea so I researched ramp options and came up with the usual suspects: Mana-facts. I kept them to a minimum on account of the indiscriminate mass removal. Then I came up with some of the better ramp spells which could fetch duals/shocks.
Back to Table of Contents
Card Choices:
The ones I'm using are in bold. There were a lot of painful choices and cuts to be made. I was going for a deck that would abuse the Kamigawa Epic spells, but not rely on them. After that, I just knew it had to be big.
* = card has already been listed in previous sections.
Bombs:
Instant/Sorcery
Big swingy spells. I prefer a repeatable effect, but sometimes they come with too many stings attached.
Kamigawa Epic Spells
These had always been the starting point for the deck. The cycle was inspired by the question "If you could only cast one spell for the rest of the game, what would it be?". I was inspired to cheat that restriction. Resolving multiple spells with Epic gets interesting since each leaves you with a separate Epic trigger on each of your upkeeps. In this deck, they were never intended to be cast without some kind of support.
Ultimatums
The most ridiculously difficult to cast of 7-mana sorceries. These are arguably more absurd than some of our other bombs. But alas, they are only one-shot effects. They unfortunately did not make my list (sad too, because I have most of them in foil). They made a strong case for including Fist of Suns.
Back to Table of Contents
Creatures
Some times you just can't beat some boots on the ground. Or wings in the air as it were.
Bringers
I almost never pay full price on these guys, which is what makes them scary. It's theoretically possible to land one on turn 3 (Sol Ring + Hunting Wilds / Skyshroud Claim). While they do have a respectable body, where they really shine is their upkeep triggers.
Back to Table of Contents
Planeswalkers
I picked 3 of the most epic 'walkers of the time when I designed the deck. Plus Garruk for mana. Of course new ones have come up, and I'm going to start looking into them at a later date.
Back to Table of Contents
Artifacts
These are some of my most Johnny-tastic picks. They were screaming to be abused, and I had to use them.
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Support Spells
These were included to amp up various aspects of the deck. Some of them can be pretty epic in combination with a few other cards, but those are combos, the epic section was reserved for individual bombs.
Flash Enablers:
These two gems allow me to resolve more than one of the epic spells at a time. Being able to flash anything I want EOT or in response to a spell is quite handy and a little scary.
Copy cats:
These effects copy one thing on another to some benefit.
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Ramp/Mana Fixing
Let's face it, this is a requirement for Goodstuff lists. If we can't get our bombs out quickly, we'll die before getting anywhere significant. Here are my picks for this deck and some other options. I wanted to use a low mana-fact count because of the wrath-happy element to the deck.
Primeval Titan- Made the original list as a snap pick. Loved him, fetching any lands I needed (Tower/Stronghold quite frequently). Then they banned him. May he rest in peaceBack to Table of Contents
Sweepers and Spot Removal
Sweepers are the core removal behind the deck. When in doubt (or trouble), blow up everything. *Snicker*
My picks for a limited Spot Removal suite. They have served well.
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Tutors and Draw
Tutoring is a key to consistency, which leads to victory. Finding the answer you need when you need it is useful to say the least. That said, I wasn't going for consistency so much as back-breaking plays with this deck. This tutor package is far smaller than I'm used to running.
Usually 1 card a turn is far too slow for late game (even more so in FFA), and since this deck was designed with late-game in mind, draw effects seemed important.
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Recursion and Sac Outlets
Getting stuff back is often handy. The Sac outlets are mainly for triggering Captain Temper-Tantrum. Since he only leaves lands, they would make the best sac outlets.
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Utility Lands
Utility lands. In a 5C deck, these slots are limited. Here are my picks and some alternative options.
Back to Table of Contents
Due to my Johnny roots, I am a huge lover of combos and wield them to devastating effect. Not all of them are insta-wins, but they are powerful. Here are the modular combos that I can point out ATM for this deck.
Drop-Hack: Target player loses the game at instant speed, commonly used as a counterspell
Door to Nothingness + Voltaic Key + Leyline of Flash / Vedalken Orrery + 6WWUUBBRRGG
Add Rings of Brighthearth for further targets
Fusion Generator: Unlimited colorless mana.
Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth
Cornerstone of several combos.
Fission Generator: Unlimited colorless mana.
Basalt Momnolith + Mana Reflection
Less flexible than Fusion Generator, but still quite powerful. It's a lot easier to start up, but doesn't enable the same shinnanigans.
Power Grid: 3: Untap target artifact. Another cornerstone of several combos.
Rings of Brighthearth + Voltaic Key
Fusion Powered Grid: Unlimited colorless mana + unlimted artifact untaps. Basalt Monolith + Rings of Brighthearth + Voltaic Key
Combines Fusion Generator and Power Grid combos. This plus any artifact with a useful non-sacing tap-ability is usually God Mode. Can also be used as a political tool (untapping artifacts that aren't yours, for a price), if you don't want to be the tyrant. Sometimes I like to be the tyrant. Just make sure to have or at least bluff having a backup plan if they try to turn it against you.
Fusion Generator 2.0: Unlimited colored mana
Fusion Powered Grid + Darksteel Ingot / Gilded Lotus
Can be used politically with a minor tweak. Using Spectral Searchlight allows you to give away colored mana (this would be funnier if mana burn was still a thing "Pick a color, now burn for it!").
Draw Deck: self explanatory
Fusion Generator + SDT
Fusion Powered Grid + Tower of Fortunes
Usually ends in the rest of the table getting hit with Door to Nothingness, since that is the only insta-win combo in the deck. Doesn't have to be that way though if you consider leaving a turn's worth of cards left in the library. You can make an army and swing for the win.
Unlimited Tutors: Demonic Tutor anything you want at will.
Fusion Powered Grid + Planar Portal
Assemble target combo, board state, etc. God Mode.
Precision Doomsday Weapon: Destroy target permanent whenever you feel like it. Can be used indiscriminately.
Fusion Powered Grid + Lux Cannon
If you have this, you are most definitely in God Mode. Only a split second spell at instant speed can stop this with impunity.
Epic Damage Cannon: Mass resolutions of Undying Flames. Somebody's gonna get it on our upkeep!
Undying Flames + Radiate
Add other copy effects for even more epic-ness. Just point the original at yourself for less self-hurt. Also, multiple copies pointed at creatures tend to fizzle.
Classic Slaver Lock (1-Player variant): Self explanatory
Mindslaver + Academy Ruins + 11U
4-mana Slaver Lock (1-Player variant): Slaver lock on 4 mana for 1 player
Mindslaver + Bringer of the White Dawn
Doesn't cost you your turn's draw.
10-mana Slaver Lock (1-Player Variant): Like above
Prototype Portal + Mindslaver
Also doesn't cost you your turn's draw.
Classic Slaver Lock (2-Player variant): Classic Slaver lock with a twist, 2 people. Play solitaire in a 3 way game! Or turn a 4 way FFA into a 3v1 etc.
Classic Slaver Lock + Rings of Brighthearth + 13U
6-mana Slaver Lock (2-Player variant): Slaver lock on 6 mana for 2 players
Mindslaver + Bringer of the White Dawn + Rings of Brighthearth
Classic Slaver Lock (3-Player variant): Classic Slaver lock with a twist, 3 people. Play solitaire in a 4 way game!
Classic Slaver Lock + Rings of Brighthearth + Phyrexian Metamorph / Sculpting Steal + 15U
8-mana Slaver Lock (3-Player variant): Slaver lock on 8 mana for 3 players
Mindslaver + Bringer of the White Dawn + Rings of Brighthearth + Phyrexian Metamorph / Sculpting Steal
Ultimate Slaver Lock (Any number of players indefinately): Slaver everyone at the table and play solitaire for as long as you feel like it. Very Tyrannical and not particularly recommended since everyone else in the game is essentially no longer playing.
Mindslaver + Prototype Portal + Fusion Powered Grid
I could go on, but I don't feel like exhaustively listing every possible permutation. If you have a speck of Johnny, and a functioning neural cluster, you should be able to work out the rest from these examples and your own wits.
Waste/Strip Lock: I almost never use this, it's beyond dirty and usually unnecessary. It rarely works in multi-player and people seem to like countering Crucible if you have either of the lands out. Do not get a reputation for falling back on this. You have been warned.
Wasteland / Strip Mine + Crucible of Worlds
Oracle of Mul Daya and Rings of Brighthearth can make it work for more players.
Widget Factory: Make token copies of Metamorph / Sculpting Steel to copy cool stuff.
Prototype Portal + Phyrexian Metamorph / Sculpting Steel
Add Rings / Key to ramp up production.
This may not seem that amazing to begin with, but think for a moment. You can make an army of... anything you can copy with what you imprinted. Opponent has a bomb creature? We have 2. Nice equipment, We'll reverse engineer it and mass-produce. Sweet mana-fact bro, mind if we borrow your design? Didn't think of that 3x artifact combo you have there, Copy Copy Copy. We can make copies of our own stuff too, like Rings or Key to get stupider even faster.
Back to Table of Contents
Most of these can be answered with Drop-Hack Combo if you have it ready, but you can't always have it ready in time. Sometimes you don't get the god draw to have it ready by turn 4.
Back to Table of Contents
Epic Moments:
Karona, Warden of AlcatrazWUBRG
The EPIC EDHWUBRG
Sun Quan Aggro1U
Animar GoodstuffRUG
Horobi MBCB
Medomai NerfWU
Saffi EriksdotterGW
Zur (CF)WUB
-Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies
"If violence isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough!"
-Me
A kid at my local gameshop wanted to break a twenty.
"You got 2 tens?" he asked me.
"No, but I probably got 3 fives." I replied.
"Perfect!"
"You might want to check your math there."
Karona, Warden of AlcatrazWUBRG
The EPIC EDHWUBRG
Sun Quan Aggro1U
Animar GoodstuffRUG
Horobi MBCB
Medomai NerfWU
Saffi EriksdotterGW
Zur (CF)WUB
-Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies
"If violence isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough!"
-Me
A kid at my local gameshop wanted to break a twenty.
"You got 2 tens?" he asked me.
"No, but I probably got 3 fives." I replied.
"Perfect!"
"You might want to check your math there."
Very cool! Wish I had more to add but I don't really play 5 colors. Nice deck though.
Username: Cabz
Thanks, I guess I sort of gravitate towards off-the-beaten-path type of decks. I think they make up about half of my currently active EDHs. You might like some of my other ones. I'll probably end up posting all of them over the next several months.
Karona, Warden of AlcatrazWUBRG
The EPIC EDHWUBRG
Sun Quan Aggro1U
Animar GoodstuffRUG
Horobi MBCB
Medomai NerfWU
Saffi EriksdotterGW
Zur (CF)WUB
-Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies
"If violence isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough!"
-Me
A kid at my local gameshop wanted to break a twenty.
"You got 2 tens?" he asked me.
"No, but I probably got 3 fives." I replied.
"Perfect!"
"You might want to check your math there."
TY TY. It took me a while, but I wanted it to be a how-to-build manual in case anyone wanted to put together their own riff on my creation. The Bringers, Epic spells, and support spells are all a matter of flavor. Those elements could easily be stripped out to for a different theme, or just general good stuff.
Karona, Warden of AlcatrazWUBRG
The EPIC EDHWUBRG
Sun Quan Aggro1U
Animar GoodstuffRUG
Horobi MBCB
Medomai NerfWU
Saffi EriksdotterGW
Zur (CF)WUB
-Elliot Carver, Tomorrow Never Dies
"If violence isn't solving it, you're obviously not using enough!"
-Me
A kid at my local gameshop wanted to break a twenty.
"You got 2 tens?" he asked me.
"No, but I probably got 3 fives." I replied.
"Perfect!"
"You might want to check your math there."